The present invention relates to refrigerators and, more particularly, to such refrigerators with a dual air flow control mechanism. Many modern household refrigerators have separate freezer and fresh food compartments, with the freezer above the fresh food compartment. The evaporator normally is positioned in an evaporator chamber provided in the rear of the freezer and refrigerated air is supplied from the rear portion of the freezer, normally from the evaporator chamber, to the upper rear portion of the fresh food compartment. The freezer operates at a substantially colder temperature than the fresh food compartment and conveniently a first thermostat mechanism senses the temperature in the freezer and controls operation of the evaporator to maintain the desired freezer temperature range. A separate thermostat mechanism senses the temperature in the fresh food compartment and controls flow of refrigerated air from the freezer to the fresh food compartment to maintain the fresh food compartment in the desired temperature range. In many such refrigerators it is desirable to direct separate streams of refrigerated air horizontally through the upper portion and downwardly through the rear portion of the fresh food compartment as this improves the uniformity of cooling of the fresh food compartment. The provision of two separate streams of refrigerated air complicates the mechanism for controlling the air flow; which, in turn, tends to increase the cost of such refrigerators.
It therefore is an object of this invention to provide an improved refrigerator.
It is another object of this invention to provide a refrigerator with an improved control mechanism for providing two separate streams of air to a refrigerated compartment.
It is still another object of this invention to provide such an improved control mechanism in which a single valve member simultaneously controls the flow of refrigerated air to both of the outlets of the control mechanism.